Winding hole South Wigston GUC Leics

[Jimbobs]

Just doing some route planning for a hire boat trip out of Market Harborough in a couple of weeks. 
 

Will be heading North on GUC from Foxton. CanalPlanAC says there’s a winding hole at lock 33 (Bush Lock) at South Wigston. Pearson’s guide doesn’t mention this and neither does the OpenCanalMap app. Can anyone confirm whether this winding hole exists? If it doesn’t, it will be a bleedin’ long reverse to the nearest one, and it’s a long way to the next one so I’m keen to get it right!

 

Many thanks. 

[matty40s]

If there was historically, it doesnt exist now.

 

You can however, still wind in the old brick wharf just past Blaby Bridge(98) one further lock along, which is where the main Lutterwortj/Leicester road crosses. There is an Aldi and Iceland with other shops just South of here.

[Jimbobs]

That should do the trick - thanks!

[matty40s]

You need to start turning in as you come under the bridge as it hasnt been dredged and is usually full of lilies.

Once you have turned, just reverse up a bit and you can moor there and walk into Blaby....dont moor towards or just after Dunns Lock, feral territory.

If the County Arms is still in your book, forget it, it's been a posh old folks home since 2013, although the art deco frontage has been preserved.

Edited August 8, 2021 by matty40s

[PeterScott]

1 hour ago, Jimbobs said:

... CanalPlanAC says there’s a winding hole at lock 33 (Bush Lock) at South Wigston. [GU Leicester Line] Pearson’s guide doesn’t mention this and neither does the OpenCanalMap app. Can anyone confirm whether this winding hole exists? ...

 

Some thoughts on extracting more information about this (possible) winding hole from the CanalplanAC interface. From the clickylink above (or here), there is a link to the Nice Mr Google from under the CanalplanAC map. Or directly  here. Then convert the Googlemap to satellite view to give something like this:

 

There are trees obscuring the possible maximum width. At this location streetview is available, and in particular, a view from the offside of the lock, as below:

 

... which shows some informal extra width here. More difficult is estimating how wide it is, and from the plan view I guess 50' might work. There's no guarantee of depth of course: with the lock above, a bit of extra water flushed through could help. It's also possible to update CanalplanAC with this information, if logged in.

 

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

You can however, still wind in the old brick wharf just past Blaby Bridge(98) one further lock along, ...

Yes, that does look to be a better bet. Best wishes for a good trip.

[matty40s]

That pound is historically the "one that empties..." last time we came through there wasnt much water to send down and we dredged along for the length in black silt.